My Teaching Inquiry 

What has gone well?

[Introduce/practise using algorithms in an everyday context to develop computational thinking.]

• Most students think more carefully about solving a problem and can talk about ‘how’ they solved it.
• Students were engaged throughout unplugged coding activities. All worked co-operatively in pairs and small groups.
• Many students have improved their backward counting skills, 1 less/1more knowledge and strategies, left/right and forwards/backwards knowledge.

What has been a challenge?

• Time restraints due to lock down.

• Timetabling regular sessions.

• JAM assessments revealed that a few students have rote-learned backwards counting from 10 but can’t count back from 20 using the ‘one less’ strategy.

• Teacher involved supporting students in new learning and not taking photos for the class Blog.

What was an ‘aha’ moment with your students?

Students realising the need to be exact when completing unplugged coding activities i.e. understanding the problem to be solved, direction, careful counting, double-checking.

Where to next?

• Continue using unplugged grids.
• Introduce Bee bots.

 Computational Thinking - Unplugged Early Years

Last week Donna Golightly from 'Using Technology Better' has developed a site using the theme of Fairy Tales to support computational thinking.  I look forward to using the resources available through the following link. Fairy Tales  

The site has links to five well known Fairy Tales. Each Tale includes:

1. links to curriculum areas
2. computational thinking concepts
3. activities
4. literacy and/or maths focusses
5. a digital technology focus
6. sequencing images
7. a grid mat
8. assessment and reflection ideas.

This resource gives direction and structure for planning computational thinking units and could be adapted for different themes and learning levels.

We have also ordered a class set of Bee-Bots to with some plastic grids. 

Computational Thinking  

Why should we integrate unplugged computational thinking activities into learning?

"Students are given challenges based on a few simple rules, and in the process of solving those challenges they uncover powerful ideas on their own.
Not only is this a more memorable way to learn, but it empowers them to realise that these are ideas within their grasp.
The activities are also very kinesthetic - the bigger the materials, the better." csunplugged

Today Te Kakano students and myself had the pleasure of Donna Golightly facilitating an unplugged lesson. 

Activity 1

Donna began by choosing a classroom stool and 1 student. The student was a robot and had to be told what to do and where to go because a robot has to be programmed. It cannot think on its own. The students had to give the robot instructions to get to the stool and sit down. It took a few attempts to direct the robot correctly with the students learning about the importance of exact instructions. The vocabulary included the words 'turn, right, left, forwards, backwards, straight.'  

Activity 2

Donna used a grid with animal body parts.

UTB | Unplugged coding | Animals

The students chose a head and body part.

They chose a blank starting square on the outside of the grid and then had turns at telling Donna where to go next. She recorded the instructions using arrows on the white board. The students got to name the creature i.e. a 'elesnail.'

Activity 3

The students repeated the above activity in pairs, recording their progress with arrows.

Activity 4

One student secretly chose 2 body parts and then plotted out the directions using arrows. the partner then followed the arrows. 

The students remained engaged throughout and I look forward to reinforcing todays learning with similar lessons. 

 My Learning Inquiry 2021

My inquiry question

Will increased time spent developing computational thinking skills and specific vocabulary lead to a better understanding of number knowledge and strategies for my learners?

Our school-wide Professional Development this year is the 'Digital Technology Curriculum' with a focus on mathematics. Donna Golightly from 'Using Technology Better' will support teachers to use the DTC and technology better to improve student learning in maths. I have taken this opportunity to improve my knowledge of developing computational thinking in the classroom and use this as a basis in my inquiry.

Digital Technology Curriculum

What is happening in your class at the moment for this group of students? Students do not have a clear understanding of the relationship between counting and 1 less/1more. They confuse ‘before/after’ and often take a guess at a number rather than use a strategy. JAM assessment results show that students are not transferring forwards/backwards counting knowledge to 10, to bigger double digit numbers.

What strategies have you used? What do you see as your next steps in your inquiry?

We use daily calendar maths, class number knowledge warm-up sessions, games and numeracy group sessions to discuss our knowledge and understanding. Independent activities are completed in workbooks and using Math Seeds on the iPads.  

Next steps:

• use EE - students take photos and record an explanation [practise using appropriate vocabulary to talk about their maths]. Recordings shared in maths groups.

• Introduce/practise using algorithms in an everyday context to develop computational thinking.

How have you/ will you involve whanau during your inquiry process?

• Share learning on our class blog

• New vocab added to our take home vocab lists - students have to explain to their whanau what the words mean and/or use the words in a sentence.

Last week at staff meeting we discussed the Te Kāhui Tai Kura o Te Hiku Achievement Challenge 2021, in relationship to our own school vision and teacher inquiries for this year. As a school we have been discussing  our local environment, and our location within Ngaitakoto as being the platform for meaningful learning for our students. Our waiata, school pepeha, and pou have historical significance and provide connection to our locality and culture.  

Te Kāhui Tai Kura o Te Hiku Achievement Challenge 2021

Our shared vision: A genuine commitment is evident to removing barriers and forging partnerships connecting iwi, whānau, and kura under a shared purpose. We value the upholding of te ao Māori through te reo me ona tikanga Māori and are driven by thoughtful understanding of the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. We will create a community that:

● puts our ākonga at the centre and is focussed explicitly on cultivating student agency and ownership

● develops ākonga who are confident in Te reo me ōna tikanga Māori .

● seeks to improve the hauora of our ākonga, both within our kura and our wider hapori

● develops resources that are localized, culturally relevant, and foster understanding of the histories, traditions and languages of Te Hiku o te Ika.

● ensures authentic collaboration and partnership around our shared goals and outcomes. That all involved feel respected, valued and listened to.

● develops quality kaiako and kaimahi who are culturally competent, relational, and highly capable in Te reo me ona tikanga Māori .

● ensures that the process of all mahi completed by the Kāhui Ako is informed by reflection and analysis.

Our aims- Kia tu tangata o Te Hiku o Te Ika

● Tu Tangata Ora: The physical, mental, spiritual and whānau wellbeing of ākonga are protected and nurtured.

● Tu Tangata Kaha: Ākonga have ownership of their learning and future direction through agentic participation in the learning process.

● Tu Tangata Marama: Ākonga are inspired to learn and engaged in quality learning experiences that are rich in the culture, environment and heritage of Te Hiku o Te Ika 

My Teaching Inquiry

My Inquiry question

Will an increased emphasis in a small group setting, on ‘concepts about print,’ basic sight words, letter sounds and vocabulary meaning, improve the oral language skills, and raise achievement in reading and writing for my priority learners?

Scanning: What’s going on for my learners?

My priority learners: All children need language enrichment, vocabulary development and conversational skills. In a reduced class size after returning to school post Covid-19 lockdown it was noticeable that those priority students who had returned were more engaged and happy to give new learning a go than they had been in a full class situation prior to lockdown. Now that all students have returned they are finding it more difficult to engage and manage independent learning. They appeared to thrive in the smaller group with more 1 on 1 teacher support.

My observations [these are the same as for 2019] 

Students who are making slow progress in reading, writing and oral language :

• have difficulty tuning in and noticing detail in what they hear and see

• have difficulty distinguishing between letter-sounds

• communicate with gestures only or incomplete sentences 

• use incorrect grammar

• have difficulty forming letter sounds which makes it hard for the listener to understand what is being said

• have limited vocabulary which affects their understanding of what they are hearing and also makes reading for meaning difficult

• make little or no connection between spoken ideas, reading and writing

• do not understand terms like first, last, next

• are slow to develop a memory for text

All of the above points impact on a healthy self-esteem and growth mindset required for learning. Based on these observations my inquiry question is:  

‘What strategies and resources can I use to increase/improve/develop the oral language skills, and raise achievement in reading and writing for my priority learners? I want to continue my 2019 inquiry in order to discover strategies to accelerate literacy learning for my students who have limited print awareness.‘  

Focusing: Marie Clay calls concepts about print “the rules of the road,” and writes, “teachers must teach so that all children become knowledgeable about these essential concepts so they open doors to literacy.”  I

‘Children who have print awareness can begin to understand the link between written and oral language. Children who lack print awareness are unlikely to become successful readers. Children's performance on print awareness tasks is a predictor of their future reading achievement.

’https://www.readingrockets.org/article/print-awareness-introduction

Developing a hunch: 

1. My priority students need to establish the concepts about print, develop an understanding about everyday words used in literacy teaching/learning [letter sound, first, last, next, start, finish, word, letter, sentence]. They need to have a larger bank of basic sight words and have instant recall when identifying letter sounds.

2. Children need a language rich environment where they are constantly hunting for word knowledge and enriching their own vocabulary. 

3. Children need to speak in whole, correctly structured  sentences and therefore a good basic sight word knowledge must be learned and used in everyday speech, reading and writing.

Baseline data: 

• Oral language testing end 2019/Term 1 2020

• Marie Clay Early Observation Survey results completed in students’ first six weeks of school.

Taking action: 

1. For each child to increase their Oral Language test score by at least six months.

2. For each student to improve their ‘Concepts about Print’ stanine . Concepts of print are important because they teach children how reading "works" (Holdgreve-Resendez, 2010a) . It can be viewed as the foundation to reading and writing. Concepts of print teach children at an early age how to orient themselves in terms of reading. Many times fluent readers can take concepts of print for granted, because they are second nature to the reader. These concepts are foreign to beginning readers (Stahl & McKenna, 2009).

3. To practise concepts about print daily with weekly shared book, poem and instructional readers. Students will demonstrate and talk about their knowledge of  concepts.

4. For each child to move on to the next colour set of Basic Sight Words (BSWs). Daily practice of reading and writing BSWs .

5. To create an oral language page on our Te Whare Kiwi Junior Site,  jointly with the Te Pihi teachers who share our class site. The Oral Language page will include activities to help parents and children initiate interesting discussions. The page/slide on the site will be introduced in class on Mondays.

6. Word Hunters: Add our class interest words to the site. 5 new words per week. Students are to tell parents the meaning of the words and use each word in a sentence. Words will be displayed in class and reviewed/referred to often in class during the week to check for understanding.

7. Home  - school connections:  Communicate with parents of my students and explain that they are at risk in literacy, ask them to support learning at school by reading books sent home daily by the teacher, basic sight word learning and letter sound learning. The challenge will be to get the message across to the parents of my priority students, that everyday activities supported by interesting talk with lots of new vocabulary words, can play an important part in their children's language and literacy development.  https://www.readingrockets.org/article/early-literacy-policy-and-practice-preschool-years

The group of students will work in a group each morning with me, following a structured programme of :

• letter sound learning starting with the vowels [reciting Letter Land alphabet, match sounds to characters and  written letters, collecting items beginning with the focus letter, cvc writing. Students to share their learning with the class on Fridays.

• basic sight word learning [reading, identifying, matching, memory game, writing]. Basic sight words will be checked 2-3 times a week.

• Concepts of print [using the week’s shared book]. Priority students to share their learning [re shared book] with the class during shared book reading

Reflections on Distance Learning during Covid-19 Lockdown and Level 3.

During the Term 1 holidays which were brought forward due to the Covid-19 pandemic, I along with most teachers across New Zealand began planning with trepidation for an up-coming, indefinite period of distance learning with my new entrant class.

Why the trepidation you may well ask? My class Te Kakano did have an existing online learning site which they share with the next class up Te Pihi, however this was not fully utilised and students were just learning about handling devices and how to access and use some learning programmes. From the isolation of our homes the two teachers from Te Pihi and myself sort to create a site which would be easy to navigate as well as reflect the nature of our in-class learning. The three of us met through hangouts and conversed often as we organised and sorted out errors. It continued to be an eight week learning curve in which I applied knowledge gained throughout the Manaiakalani  Digital Fluency Intensive training and new skills I developed through online research and youtube videos. It was great to be able to have access to Manaiakalani Trust tutors who were invaluable with their help. Here is the link to the Te Whare Kiwi learning site.

Four or five days a week I made myself available to meet my students and their whanau via Google Hangouts. I enjoyed these times although student attendance varied from between 2 and 7. On an average only 4 students would attend despite numerous emails and messages to parents. We organised devices for students who didn't have them but this did not increase the rate of participation. Those students who had ongoing whanau support continued to grow their learning which is evident on their return to school. These students read the weekly PM online books chosen at appropriate levels and parents read the individual goals that had been set up for each child, and encouraged this learning.  The learning site worked well for these students only.

The Positives

Online learning provided

• opportunity for learning to continue at home in a real life context
• parents got the opportunity to be engaged with their children and see what they were learning
• the opportunity to observes learning interests, strengths, weaknesses and progress, and to see where support was needed
• me the opportunity to explore the possibilities of online teaching/learning, some of which can continue in the classroom to develop independence and student agency
• me the opportunity to discover what works well and what doesn't with early learners

The Negatives

• the frustrations of getting and staying connected with young learners. This required much communication with whanau, who for a variety of reasons had difficulty connecting regularly to class hangouts and supporting their tamariki with learning activities provided on the learning site.
• On return to school a large gap is evident between those students who were being supported at home with online learning and those that weren't.  
• Parents who never or rarely connected with online learning had problems with learning packs not arriving or the content being too difficult.

Moving Forward

• Parent eduction around connecting and usage of class site to access learning. There is a need for parents to feel confident about connecting, navigating the class site and blog, and helping students with online learning.
• Better use of the site to share and support in-class learning and home learning
• Better use of the class blog to share learning on a regular basis